Hunger Ministries

NEXT UPCOMING EVENTS:

Food Is First: Sunday, January 6th, 2019. See More Below.

Bread Of Life: Thursday, January 31st, 2019. See More Below.

Melrose is often thought of as a comfortable suburb of Boston, but we understand that many people in our local communities lack access to nutritious food and spiritual support. MUUC strongly and consistently supports local ministries working to meet basic nutritional needs of people in our community. Our Hunger Ministries include supporting Bread of Life, our Food Is First program, our Giving Beyond Our Walls program, and recently creating school vacation week food boxes.

Bread of Life

Bread of Life is a faith-based ministry, serving the communities north of Boston by feeding the hungry, homeless, needy and isolated; offering spiritual nurture, support, and hospitality; promoting greater peace and justice by addressing broader issues of hunger, poverty, and need; and conducting their work in a spirit of respect and nonviolence.

The Melrose UU Church serves about 8 meals throughout the year, about 50-75 guests per meal. All Bread of Life locations are accessible by public transportation.

Food Is First

Pantry of Hopeis a food pantry organized and run by the local First Baptist Church in Melrose. To support the Pantry of Hope, on the first Sunday of every month during the church year, MUUC has a “Food Is First” effort. This means MUUC’ers bring shelf-stable food and non-food items (such as toothpaste, tin-foil, etc.) to the church before worship service, and leave the bags of items in “Brick Hall”, which is our main entrance hall. Volunteers bring the donations from our church to our neighboring First Baptist Church the following Monday. First Baptist sees to the distribution for our neighbors in need.

Giving Beyond Our Walls

MUUC has been “Giving Beyond Our Walls” to support the work of many vital organizations for years, including many that deal with hunger issues. Check out the Giving Beyond Our Wallspage on our website.

School Vacation Food Boxes

In 2016, a need was identified during the February and April school vacations, as some families struggled to feed their children who would otherwise receive free breakfasts and lunches at school. MUUC organized efforts to raise money to provide vacation week food boxes for families who live in motels in Melrose and Malden. Food was purchased and MUUC’ers assembled the boxes, which were then delivered directly to the families by Bread of Life; these boxes contained kid-friendly, nutritious, and shelf-stable food requiring little or no preparation. Thanks go to our Hoover School helpers, and Brad Hutchinson Real Estate, who donated the use of a van to transport the boxes.

We are grateful for the many generous donors who exceeded our fund-raising expectations. Successful 2016, 2017, and 2018 School Vacation Food Box events were completed, and in April 2018, we were been told by Bread of Life that there were no families living in local motels at that time. More to be thankful for.

We will see what 2019 will bring, and any remaining funds are earmarked for future School Vacation Food Box efforts.

Interested?

If you would to learn more about any of our Hunger Ministry efforts, please click here to contact ourSocial Justice Committee. (please include your email address!)